


Intertwined (Tangled AU)

by Mythicmoron



Category: Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Lams musical crossover disney crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27777106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mythicmoron/pseuds/Mythicmoron
Summary: Hi, I figured I'd make y'all on this website suffer through my fanfic too.A reimagined adaptation of ‘Tangled’ or ‘Rapunzel, adapted for a fanfiction for Hamilton. With historical appearances and very likely altered personalities.This is a lams fic, it's not that great, but it is what it is.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. A Witches flower.

Our story starts with a flower. A flower- perhaps so magical that a bitter family of witches felt the need to hide it away. The witches once had a rather large family, however they had long since passed. The flower served as a dark medicine, if you will. A medicine that kept their family of witches alive and well for maybe hundreds of years; that said, they knew when their time was over and accepted it with grace as if they'd never caused any pain or suffering during the time they were alive. However two witches were left behind, a mother and her son.

The mother witch was still rather young compared to her predecessor's, she knew little of the world and was left to raise a son alone. She knew she herself would not have much time left as for her son? Well it was not her place to decide. In the meantime, whilst still walking amongst the living, the young witch would spend as much time as she could with her still young and innocent son, she'd teach him all she knew- it helped that she was resourceful and quick minded.

As for the flower, the kind young witch decided that she would share it with the less fortunate. She hoped and yearned to make amends for her family and the way they had treated and demanded from a nearby village for as long as she could only imagine; she knew her family had been a cruel bunch. Her kindness was commendable, she was doing something good for once in her life. It's rather unfortunate that not everyone saw it that way.

The village became greedy, living off of the witch's kindness, yet she refused to see it that way. She eventually worked herself half to death, forever trying to please a village that never really cared for her kindness. She may not have seen this, but her son certainly picked up on it.

One night, the village became much bitter than before- they ambushed the two witches home, setting everything on fire, they no longer wanted anything to do with a family of witches, as other villages had heard word of the kind young woman and her magical healing flowers. They decided they'd much rather end it than share these flowers. Fortunately, the two fled, however nothing was ever the same...

One last flower survived. The two witches found a tall tower hidden from the world and decided they would stay there. They fixed it up a little and didn't waste time planting the flower to preserve its powers. It had started to wilt but we'll, it was a magical plant after all, it wasn't exactly hard to restore. The witch's son was finally proven right, helping the village folk didn't pay off. The two now shut off from the rest of the forest, their tower hidden from the rest of the world. They no longer helped the rest of the world, now it was just each other. Eventually our older witch fell to illness, her son devoted his time to helping to ease the pain and making things much more comfortable for her. He wanted to use the magic of the flower to heal her, but she refused, her time had come and she was to reunite with the rest of their family on the other side.

The younger witch wasn't nearly as happy as his mother as he did not quite understand why something must come to an end so soon.

In a far off kingdom, not too far off, a young queen and king were with child. They already had one son- James, he was only a toddler. They were overjoyed with the news, even James was excited to have a baby sister or brother. The family and their people who adored them, prayed for a healthy baby.

The queen, Rachel wasn't a young maiden, but certainly had the beauty of one. She was kind and cared for everyone. Her husband, the king, was much similar in that retrospective. He tried to be loyal to his people and pass fair judgement, though he was often busy and had to leave and visit neighbouring kingdoms, he barely spent time with his wife during her pregnancy- perhaps it even affected him worse than her. He constantly worried for his beloved, causing him to stress and age much quicker. But of course once the two saw each other again, they were every bit as in love as the day they first realised their love for each other; before she met her king, when Rachel was a little younger, she was married to another, but that didn't last long. The details were scarce but the king, in a way, saved Rachel. He gave her a position in the castle and a place to stay. The two had since grown closer. Though not everyone agreed on the two's close relations at first, the people and the servants soon came to love Rachel as much as the king did. She showed nothing but kindness as respect, and in turn, received the same.

It was raining out, the weather rather stormy. It was early November, so the queen didn't have long left before their new bundle of joy would be welcomed into the world. Her son had been put to bed not long ago. It was late, Rachel would have usually been in bed herself by now, however her beloved husband was due back tonight and she couldn't wait to greet him. She should have been sat in front of the fire, keeping warm; instead, she stood by the window, watching the rain outside as the wind blew about the place.

A royal carriage soon pulled up and Rachel's eyes glistened with excitement. She carefully lifted up the front of her dress and rushed out of the room. She rushed down the hallway and down the stairs into the grand entrance of the palace. The grand doors were opened, her beloved had returned, drenched head to toe. Rachel proceeded to carelessly rush forward, wrapping her arms around her husband, clinging to him tightly. She didn't care much for how soaked in rain and how cold he was. All that mattered was that he was home.

"I've missed you greatly!" Rachel insisted, taking the king's hand, placing a gentle kiss to his knuckle. James, her husband, smiled, gently lifting his lover's chin in response. Their eyes met and the two shared a short and sweet kiss. "I have missed you too, we have much to catch up on" he pressed his wet forehead to Rachel's, humming softly. It had been a number of weeks since they saw each other last. "Yes..." Rachel agreed, her voice filled with a sense of pain and worry.

Rachel felt a sudden chill and collapsed to the stone floor. She clung to James's forearms desperately as he lowered himself, continuing to hold his dearest close. He kissed her head softly and cradled her against his chest as he called out for help. All Rachel could do was listen to her king's heartbeat.

A house maid was still at their aid and the queen was escorted to private chambers. She was changed and helped into bed. A doctor was fetched straight away. She'd developed a fever in the king's absence. 

Martha approached the queen's chambers, quietly knocking the back of her hand before heading in. She closed the door behind her before carrying over a tray with a glass of water on it, medicine herbs, believed to help cure her illness and a bowl of soup, though to Martha, it didn't seem like the queen would want to eat anything.

Martha was the wife of one of the king's closest advisors. She cared for Rachel deeply and was in fact one of the first Rachel opened up to. Martha would dress her and look after her and bring her food when she wasn't ill. She'd do anything she can to help Rachel.

Everyone in the kingdom did what they could to help their beloved queen, though very little was working. She was at least stabilized and the fever reduced for a little while, but then she worsened. She would wail at night and cry out all the time, seeing things that weren't really there. A few times she barely recognized her own husband and child. Eventually, somebody stepped forward. They were said to have lived in some small village on the borders of the kingdom.

'I know what you seek' they said, 'I know if a flower. It possesses magic qualities you'd only hear in legends. But I've witnessed the flower being used first hand. If anything can heal your queen, I believe this ought to do the trick. You'll see.'

The king set out a search party for this magical flower, but with little success. Somehow though, a handful of the king's finest soldiers, stumbled across a small garden in the middle of nowhere. All that was planted there, a flower. It had an intense aura about it and glowed bright red, with specs of yellow. The king's men were careful retrieving it from the ground and soon returned to the palace. The flower was boiled down with water, to create what they hoped would cure their feeble queen. And it worked.

The next morning, the queen awoke feeling much better. Her fever had reduced completely; it was a miracle.

The Queen sat up in bed in her private chambers. Her curtains were drawn open, Martha had already been in to let some light into the room. Rachel messed with her fair brown hair, twisting and braiding it all together, letting it drop over her shoulder as she studied the scenery out her window. She could not see a lot outside her bedroom window- but she could see the calm sky, the ledge of her balcony and the many heads of tall trees beyond the gates of the kingdom.

The large set of double doors to the Queen's chambers opened and in popped the head of a muched missed son he had faint brown hair, a resemblance to his mother, though it had certain redness to it, capturing the likeness of his father. Rachel turned to face the boy and her eyes lit up with joy. The young boy ran for his mother, the king not far behind. The three hugged like it had been forever since they saw each other last.

"And how do you feel?" The king would as each day, worried she might fall to illness again. He'd just sit with her and run his fingers through her hair, occasionally kissing the top of his beloved's head. Everyday, Rachel would tell him more or less the same thing, "Fear not, for I've never felt better, my love..." It was true, Rachel really did feel much better. Just a couple more months past and soon her baby was born, with no complications. He had the strongest shades of ginger in his hair you could only imagine and violet eyes. He hadn't been around long yet everybody adored him. He had cute chubby cheeks and freckles sprinkled right across his cheeks and nose.

To celebrate the birth of their new born son, a celebration was held. They filled the night sky with floating lanterns. The whole kingdom watched in awe, filled with so much hope and dreams for the future.

Unfortunately, not everyone was happy for the birth of the young prince. The young witch from before? He was furious. All he had left was that one flower and it was snatched away from him. when he'd heard of the birth of the prince, it only made things worse... he decided he'd take payment for his oh so precious flower.

One night when everyone had gone to bed in the kingdom and servants wondering the palace halls were reduced, the witch snuck in. At first he cut a clump of hair, however the hair in his hand turned grey and had no magical qualities to it. So instead, he went through with his plan and snatched the child away.

When the King and Queen found that their baby was gone, they were distraught. Suddenly dreams and hopes for a future seemed to be a hopeless thought that would never come. They tried to stay strong for a while, but they just couldn't. The king was the first to go, he couldn't keep up with his strong facade crumbled, he didn't even really know why- he just ran, leaving his wife and first child behind. Their son, James? He disappeared leaving his mother behind, in order to find and hopefully return with his missing father. In the end illness took their Queen. It had come for her once before and it came for her again. When she was gone, the kingdom was filled with grief; she was all the kingdom had left... without her, who would lead them?

All that mattered to the witch was that he had his flower back. He kept the child hidden, locked away in a huge tall tower. He raised the child as his own, well... sort of. He didn't show the child much love- but when he did, it was more for the flower within him than the child himself. The child grew older and never left the castle, despite having opportunities to. His hair never stopped growing and kept the witch looking young for the next eighteen years of their lives.


	2. A Deal is made.

Somewheres hidden and unaware to the rest of the world, the witch raised his prized possession; a child who grew to have hair so red and so long, you'd not believe it were possible. The child's name was Alexander. He knew nothing of his circumstances and how he came to be. His whole life, he lived confined to a tower. A tower he could probably easily leave, yet guilt and the lies of a spiteful manipulative witch prevented him from doing so. Thomas never looked a day older than the day he'd kidnapped young Alexander, this was heavily due to the magical qualities Alexander's hair possessed thanks to one single flower.

When Thomas' family still lived, they'd used a song to harness power from the flower and it seemed to work with Alexander's hair. Albeit once cut from the roots, his hair was rendered useless. Their song went a little like this;

Flower gleam and glow  
Let your power shine  
Make the clock reverse  
Bring back what once was mine,

Heal what has been hurt  
Change the dates design  
Save what once was lost  
Bring back what once was mine,

What once was mine...

Thomas would often sit with young Alexander and brush his long hair whilst singing his ancient song. He didn't care much for Alexander even though he'd spent time with the boy, he only cared for the magical healing ability. He was able to lie his way to Alexander's heart in order to keep him in that tower and since Thomas was all Alexander knew, he ate those lies up, swallow, and put on a smile.

It wasn't so bad really, when Thomas was away, Alexander would busy himself doing whatever he could think of in his endless days of confinement. He taught himself how to sow, how to read, to paint; after many failed and gross attempts, he could even bake and cook for himself. Though, the more able he was to look after himself, the less Thomas was needed there and therefore, the less he was.

Alexander's nineteenth birthday drew closer and he had decided a long time ago what he'd wanted. He tried for his eighteenth, but failed miserably. 'strong and persistent' he'd told himself. He was going to press Thomas for a trip beyond his tower; he wanted to see the floating lanterns. Every year on his birthday, lanterns lit up the night sky, he always looked forward to them. However Thomas would always shake his head, disregarding them as stars.

What Thomas knew that Alexander didn't was, each year to celebrate the birth of the missing princess, the kingdom and palace would send off these lanterns in honour of their missing prince. They'd hoped that maybe one day, their prince would recognize the lanterns from when he was a baby and return home... Thomas simply couldn't have that.

Elsewhere in the kingdom was a thief- three thieves actually. Francis, Martha and John. The three of them were working together on a heist. They'd stupidly agreed to steal the lost prince's tiara. Fortunately for them, most of the kingdom would be preparing and getting ready for the nineteenth year of setting off lanterns into the night sky. They still prayed that the prince would return- but until then, the previous king's closest advisor was put in charge of the people. He wasn't awful, he just wasn't Royalty and wanted his king, or the prince to return someday soon.

John and his fellow thieves had made it to the kingdom. They stealthy snuck round the street's, hoping they wouldn't be recognized. They were used to this by now though, they were good at not being seen if they didn't want to be. The three of them found their way in, a balcony looming over the gardens, you could see past the kingdom and towards the horizon from there too, it was a lovely view. John and Martha quietly jumped down onto the balcony and peaked through the doors that had been left open. The coast was clear.

The two crept their way through the rooms and corridors. They very narrowly escaped from getting caught. "We should have picked a more direct route!" Martha hissed quietly, following John whom paced ahead, he wasn't happy about the whole situation. "We shouldn't have even taken this job!" John gushed, grabbing Martha's shoulder and pulling her flat against the wall behind a huge open door. "But you had to say yes!" he whisper yelled angrily. "So excuse me for picking an inconvenient route in."  
"We needed the money!" Martha snapped, practically bearing her teeth at him.  
"Yes, but other jobs come up, this one-" John was interrupted by a silver dish hitting the ground. The two turned their head's towards a shocked looking girl, still stood as if holding the silver in her hands. Whilst the girl just stood, staring at the two, they made their way past. The sounds of palace guards could soon be heard.  
"We have to get out of here!" Martha said, running down the hall.  
"Yep!" John said, it being obvious that this whole job would only lead to disaster, perhaps even a trap.

The two thieves ran down the hall, hoping to make their escape. Martha quickly grabbed John's collar, pulling him into a random room. It was dark and shrouded with dust. John sighed a little, leaning against the wall for a moment to catch his breath. Martha had made her way over to the window, quickly drawing the curtains open on the other side of the room. She unlatched a very stiff window and started to climb out. John gasped, clearly Martha has missed something. As well as seeing all the dust particles flying around thanks to daylight, there was also a huge painting of the king, Queen, their first son James and even what should have been their newborn; the lost prince.

"John!" Martha snapped, whipping her head around. John shook his head, gesturing to the direction of the painting on the wall. "Oh yes, the royal family, ooh-la-la, we're done here!" she snapped.  
"No!" John shouted back, walking over to the painting. Stood in front of the painting was a pillar. On that pillar, a gold trimmed red cushion. On the cushion? The tiara.

Martha's eyes lit up and sparked with joy. She slowly walked over and carefully lifted the tiara from its cushion. She examined it from every angle, a smile stretching across her face. Martha probably could have stood there all day, playing with the tiara in her hands if it weren't for the door to the room being abruptly and loudly opened. She tucked the piece of jewelry into her satchel as John pulled her out the window, practically shoving her up the roof whilst Francis towed her up onto the roofing above the window and then John. The three thieves, once again together, took the same way out of the kingdom as they did into it, only this time, they were being tracked and they knew this- even if they weren't in view of their chasers.

John, Martha and Francis came to a stop as they reached a bit of a tricky obstacle. It wasn't impossibly high of a cliff face, but it would still require quite a bit of extra strength to make it up there. John held his hand out in front of Martha, giving her a look. "Francis will boost me up first and then I'll help you both up, but you have to give me the satchel" he knew Martha would struggle to part with the tiara so soon, she absolutely adored shiny things. He also understood why she might be hesitant to trust him, despite having known each other for quite a long time. What they'd stolen was worth a lot and it wasn't exactly uncommon for thieves working together to turn on each other, it wasn't like John hadn't considered it before either...

Soon, the three of them heard the sound of feet and hooves nearing closer. "Pull me up!" Martha squeaked, reaching her hand up. John went to taker her hand but an arrow shot straight between, narrowly missing Martha's hand. It was too late for Martha and Francis, but John still had a chance. As Martha and Francis were cuffed and restrained, John's only real option was to get out of there fast- returning the stolen tiara would not have helped them out of there, they were still wanted thieves after all. He told himself he'd be back for them, though he also knew that was pretty unlikely.

Alexander sighed, staring out the window of his tower, arms folded over the ledge. He smiled, watching a couple of birds fly by. He'd spent most of his morning painting one of the walls and now he was just relaxing, thinking about life beyond the walls of his tower. That was until somebody came running towards the tower. Alexander flinched back, taking a step away from the window. He looked around for some kind of weapon, the closest thing that could do any damage being a frying pan. He grabbed it and backed away into a dark corner as the intruder managed to climb their way up the tower.

John was surprised to find a tower in the middle of nowhere, especially one so... well kept. He tucked loose blond strands behind his ear and looked around in amazement, it was homey. Alexander watched from the darkness, eventually making his way round and thwacking him round the head with his pan. There was a painful and sharp 'CLANG' and then John's body collapsed to the floor.

Alexander dropped his pan and then hooked his arms under the body's shoulder's, looking for somewhere to hide him. In the end, he stuffed him into a closet, shoving a chair up against the doors to prevent him from falling out.

"Alexander!" The witch called from the bottom of the tower. He was carrying a basket and wore a dark cloak. After making sure the doors to the closet really were secure, he rushed to the window and peered down. "Well..." The witch demanded, "Are you going to let me in?"  
"Oh- yes, Thomas..." Alexander gathered up his extreme amount of vibrant ginger hair, letting it fall out the window. The witch formed a loop with Alexander's hair, holding it tightly and stepping onto his hair, letting Alexander do the heavy work, pulling him up.

"Uhm, it's good to see you Thomas..." Alexander mumbled. The witch waved off his comment, walking past and setting his basket down on the table, ignoring the fact that a frying pan was just casually lying on the floor. He pulled various essentials out of his basket, fruit, vegetables and herbs. Alexander approached slowly, hopeful that the witch would let him have what he wanted. "Thomas..."  
"What is it?" The witch asked, his voice coming off somewhat blunt.  
"You know how it's my birthday soon..."  
"And?" The witch asked, turning his head in his direction ever so slightly.  
"I'd like to see the floating lights... I'll be nineteen, surely old enough to venture out of this tower..."  
"That's out of the question" The witch grumbled. "Firstly, they're just stars and can see them perfectly well from your window" the witch chided. "Secondly, do you have any idea how dangerous it is out there? You could get hurt, and we wouldn't want that now, would we?"  
"Thomas!" Alexander snapped.  
"Alexander!" the witch snarled, narrowing his eyes. Alexander flinched back a little, but soon balled his fists and glared a little. "I've charted stars..." he pressed on. "Those things aren't stars, they appear once a year and only on my birthday- how dangerous could it be? So what if I get hurt? I can just heal myself, can't I? I can look after myself!"  
"Enough!" the witch hissed. "You are not leaving this tower, ever!" he practically screamed. "Great... now I'm the bad guy..."  
"I- fine..." Alexander mumbled, backing down. He didn't want to be yelled at. "Can I ask for at least one thing...?"  
"And what would that be?" Thomas sighed a little.  
"New paints? Please? I can't exactly leave this tower and get them myself..." Alexander reasoned.  
"As long as it keeps you from nagging me to leave this tower... I hope you know and appreciate how much effort goes into getting these paints for you..."  
"Yes- please- thank you very much..." Alexander bounced up and down a little.

Thomas soon got ready to leave once more, making sure to brush Alexander's hair and take in some of the magic from Alexander's hair. He said his goodbyes and soon he was gone again. He hadn't even been there for a particularly long time, yet Alexander was already alone again... or he would have been if it weren't for the intruder in his closet.

Alexander approached his closet, removing the chair and opening the doors, just letting John's body just fall out. He sighed, dragging him over to the chair and doing his best to sit him up right in the chair, tying him to it. When he came across the satchel John had been carrying, he'd decided he'd have to confiscate it. He opened it up to find out what was inside and fished out a fancy looking piece of jewelry. He felt oddly drawn to the tiara for some reason. When John stirred, he quickly tucked the thing away, into a pot.

John slowly opened his eyes, regaining consciousness. All around him was lots and lots of intense ginger curls; he was Tangled up in it all. He tried to move his wrists, but they were tied down. He wriggled round in the chair, hoping to escape, but it was useless. "Struggling-" John heard from the shadows. He whipped his head round to see a... boy walk forwards? He was the source of all the long ginger hair. He pointed a frying pan at John as he approached.

"Struggling is pointless..." Alexander said, taking a step closer. "I know why you're here... and I'm not afraid of you!" John blinked a few times, still trying to process what was going on and what lead him to being tied up in such long hair. "What...?" he mumbled.  
"Who are you and how did you find me...?" Alexander put on a tough face, lifting John's chin with the frying pan, stood at an arms width.

The last thing John could remember was running further into the forrest. He had no particular goal in mind, he just needed to get as far away as possible from the soldiers. One of the fastest soldiers had gone after him for the satchel, but with a stroke of luck, John was able to get away. "I, uh..."

"Who are you and how did you find me?" Alexander repeated, scowling at the thief. John's ocean eyes met with Alexander's Violet's and he thought for a moment before clearing his throat, "I know not who you are. Not how I came to find you... but may I just say, hi- how ya doin'? The names John Lauren's"  
"Who else knows of my location, John Lauren's?" Alexander asked, furrowing his brows. John raised his hands as best he could with a sigh. "Okay, listen Ginger..."  
"Alexander-" Alexander quickly corrected.  
"Whatever..." John closed his eyes and groaned a little. "Look, I was in a situation, I came across your tower and climbed it... Wait, where's my satchel?" he finally acknowledged that the tiara and satchel had finally gone missing. "I've hidden it" Alexander declared, rather proud of himself. "Somewhere you'll never find it..."  
John raised a brow, flicking his head towards a pot. "It's in that pot, isn't it?" Alexander quickly smacked John round the head like before and hid the tiara and satchel elsewhere in the tower, though it's not as though it were a particularly hidden spot.

John awoke once more, still wrapped up in endless ginger curls. "Now it's hidden somewhere you'll never find it" Alexander announced. "So, what do you want with my hair? To cut it? Sell it?"  
"What? No!" John yelled. "The only thing I want to do with your hair is to get out of it!"  
"Wait..." Alexander hesitated, his guard dropping a little. "You don't want my hair?"  
"Why on earth would I want your hair? I don't even know you, I saw your tower and I was bring chased, end of story!"  
"Uh, okay..." Alexander thought for a second. "John Lauren's, I'm prepared to make a deal..."  
"A deal?" John repeated. John walked across to the wall, pulling back a curtain to reveal a section of the wall, painted and decorated with the image of the floating lights and scenery from Alexander's tower. "Do you know what these are?" Alexander asked.  
"The lanterns thing they set off for the prince?" John questioned.  
"I knew they weren't stars...!" Alexander muttered, a smile on his face. "Here is my offer: Take me to the kingdom to see these lights, act as my guide then return me home safely. Do this and I'll return your precious satchel to you"  
"Ah, wow, yeah that's a no can do..." John said as if he felt bad, which he wasn't entirely sure whether he did or not. "See, the kingdom and I? We're going through a bit of a rough patch, escorting you there might be impossible..."  
Alexander shook his head and pouted. "Something brought you here John Laurens, call it what you will- fate, destiny..."  
John just scoffed.  
"So I have made the decision to trust you"  
"A horrible decision" John stated blankly.  
"But believe me when I tell you this, you can tear this tower to the ground, but without my help, you'll never find your precious satchel!" Alexander narrowed his eyes and pouted, trying desperately to look threatening. Of course John didn't buy it, but he'd let this strange boy have his moment. "Okay, so, I take you to see the lanterns, bring you back and you'll return my satchel?" John asked with a huff. "Fine..."  
"Yay!" Alexander smiled excitedly, his eyes lighting up. He threw himself at John out of impulse, wrapping his arms around him, causing the two of them and the chair John was tied to, to tip over. "Oh, uh, sorry..." Alexander sat up and climbed off carefully.


	3. A thief and a ginger walk into a bar

Alexander and John soon left the tower for a journey to see the lanterns, though Alexander was a little hesitant. when Alexander first touched the ground, he giggled, the sensation of the grass tickling his toes. 

John looked down at Alexander’s feet then up at the heavy clouds in the sky and sighed heavily. “Listen, Ginger…”  
“My name's Alexander!” Alexander found himself correcting John.  
“Yeah, right…” John shrugged. “So, what's the deal? Do you not have a pair of boots?”  
“Boots?” Alexander asked. “I’ve never needed boots”  
“Well you might…” John huffed. “And a coat too…”  
“Why…?” Alexander asked, just gathering up some of his hair.  
“And the hair situation…” John mumbled. He snaked an arm over Alexander’s shoulders and pointed up to the sky. “See the thick clouds? It's going to snow, you might freeze to death…”  
“Oh…” Alexander mumbled. “We better hurry up and find somewhere warm then!” he tried to sound encouraging.  
“It may not be that simple Ginger, I'm a wanted man…”  
“It’s Alexander!” Alexander stomped his foot a little. “Anyway, we'll make do, I've never needed shoes before…” John just sighed a little as they walked.

Alexander was quite excited and cheery as they walked through the forest. He loved all of the colourful flowers and different plants. John may have had to stop Alexander from eating wild berries a few times. They stopped at a small river trickling through the forrest. The water was icy cold. It was mid afternoon and had already begun to get chilly. 

Alexander hugged his firearms close to his chest, shivering a little. He was soon startled and jumped a little at a small bunny that hoped out in front of him and John. He stopped and John blinked a few times. He turned to look at Alexander, whom was slowly shuffling around, scrunching his nose up. John shook his head softly, grabbing Alexander’s arm and pulling him close. “It’s not going to hurt you, it's harmless.”  
Alexander relaxed a little and took a small step away from John as they continued inward. They soon came across a tavern. The snuggly Duckling.

“What is this place…?” Alexander asked, looking around nervously as he and John approached the building. “A tavern” John simply said. “If we're lucky, we might be able to get a drink and something to eat. It's cold out, this place will warm you up” John suggested. Alexander thought for a moment before giving him a nod. John opened the door and they headed inside.

John shut the door to the tavern behind him and suddenly the two both felt a lot warmer. Alas, heads turned and Alexander and John were faced with a new problem entirely… the room was filled with brutish men of all sizes, all carrying a fair bit of muscle. They didn't seem to like John’s presence too much, some a little more focused on Alexander’s unusually long ginger curls. The majority of the men looked as though they might tear John apart.

“Is this you?” one of the men finally broke the silence. He had medium wavy light brown hair, dressed much more formal than the rest. He cleared his throat, holding up a Wanted poster. Slapped right in the center of the poster was a sketch of John. John snatched the poster out of the man’s hands, furrowing his brows and narrowing his eyes. “No, no, no…” John uttered, scrunching up the paper. “This is a monstrosity!” he dropped the paper to the floor.  
“It is you!” another man gasped, giving someone a nod. “Why are you here? We're peaceful folk- we could get into serious trouble for harbouring the likes of you-”  
John opened his mouth to say something, though he hadn't quite decided what yet. “He’s my tour guide!” Alexander interrupted. “He’s taking me to see the lights!”  
“Sorry little red…” yet another random huge man butted in, grabbing John and managing to sling him over his shoulder. “But the bounty on his head will bring in some serious gold-”  
“What? Oh hell no, you do not need the reward money!” Someone else yelled, trying to yank John away.  
“No, wait!” Alexander tried but it very quickly became a game of who wants what with the reward money. Alexander was pushed back, away from the crowds whilst John had an even harder time, being thrown around the place.

“Stop it!” Alexander yelled, but he still wasn't being listened to. He pushed forward once more, trying to get closer to John– only for his nose to meet with someone’s elbow. He was sent back and landed against a table. “Alexander!” John called as the room fell silent. Alexander was helped up by a huge set of arms and led to a chair by the fire.

“Oh lord, you're bleeding…” John mumbled, sitting on the arm of the chair. “Are you okay?” he sighed. “Maybe we should go back on our deal, I'll take you back to your tower…”  
“No way!” Alexander scoffed. “No, I'll be fine…” he insisted. “Just… maybe a small break since we're here?”  
John huffed a little, giving in. “Alright… I suppose a little time won't hurt… but…”

“So…” One of the guys from before walked over and perched down on a chair on the other side of the fireplace. He leaned forward and smiled a little. “When you walked in, I believe you said this thief was your ‘guide’ or something?”  
Both Alexander and John looked up to face the man, unsure on what to say at first. “Yes that's right!” Alexander spoke up. “He promised to take me to see the floating lights. It's very important to me, I've never left my tower before and he agreed to escort me there, please don't turn him over–” the guy held his hands up, silencing Alexander. “My name is Hercules. I myself have no intention in handing Lauren's over, but have you thought this out? It's cold out, actually–” Hercules turned to look out a window across the room. “It’s already started snowing…” Alexander looked to John for answers, but he had none. Hercules released a heavy sigh and stood up, patting his knees. “I’ll be right back…” Alexander and John just nodded.

“So, your sure you don't want to go back to your tower?”  
“Yes!” Alexander pouted, punching John’s arm. “I want to see the floating lights, I'm not backing down!” he glared up at him.  
“Okay, you two…” Hercules soon returned, lugging a suitcase behind him. He pulled it up with all his strength and set it on the other chair. He opened it up, pulling a few things out. He handed Alexander a folded up winter cloak and boots. He also handed a cloak to John. “This, John Lauren's, is probably a lot more than you deserve– don't you think?”  
“I suppose that's true…” John shrugged.  
“Now then, you two need to get going” Hercules said.  
“Thank you for the cloak and boots, Hercules…” Alexander said, standing up.  
“No problem, how's your nose? The guys, they all feel awful…”  
“Better, actually…” Alexander offered a smile as John got up next to him.  
Somebody cleared their throat and they turned. “Uh, we're sorry about before… so we've decided to offer you safe passage out of here…” he lead them round the bar and pulled a lever. A small wooden door opened, a set of stairs leading down. Alexander gasped a little and smiled rather excitedly. “Thank you so much- and uh, for not selling John out-”  
“Well…” the man rubbed the back of his neck. “You better hurry, we'll try and hold them back”  
“I uhm, thank you…”

Alexander and John soon hurried down the stairs. They seemed to go on forever– but they eventually reached the bottom after a long walk. John had grabbed a torch on the wall so that they could see better. It was cold deep underground, but at least they weren't having to walk through and navigate around during the show up on the land.

After a while, Alexander yawned. “Tired, huh?” John asked.   
“No!” Alexander said defensively before just sighing in defeat. “Actually, yeah… just a little”  
“Look, we can stop for a bit” John said, sliding down against the wall. “There’s no use in moving if you don't have the energy to, besides the floating lights isn't even for another few days”  
Alexander just nodded and sat down, wrapping his new warm cloak around himself to keep warm.   
“Alex, if you want to close your eyes for a bit, I'll take watch” John suggested. “But uh, not too long” Alexander nodded and closed his eyes, resting his head against John’s shoulder and falling asleep. John purses his lips together. “Great…” he leaned up and twisted round, setting the torch into a holder on the wall, wich caused Alexander’s head to slip off of John’s shoulder and against his chest. John frowned a little at first but decided not to wake Alexander, what was the harm in letting Alexander sleep like that for a bit? John could just tell him later that he didn't want to move him and accidentally wake him up.

As Alexander slept against John down below– up top, castle guards were approaching this ‘Snuggly Duckling’. They were being led by a man who'd previously been sent to retrieve the guards and turn in John Lauren's. They soon entered, greeted with guilty smiles all round. “Where is he? Where is John Lauren's?” the captain asked as the rest of the guards filed in. They hadn't quite made it back to the kingdom yet and still had the other two thieves, Martha and Frances, with them.

“John Lauren's you say? Don't know no John Lauren's here, have you seen a John Lauren's, Robert?” Hercules asked.  
The man behind the bar, cleaning beer mugs shook his head. “No, I don't think so…”  
“Men, search the place!” the captain demanded. Guards spread out, checking out the back room and heading upstairs. They weren't up there particularly long though and soon returned. “No sign of Lauren's”

The door swung open violently and in trudged a younger man than most of the guards, with reddish brown hair, he looked as through he'd been dragged through bushes and mud– which he kind of had. Before they had lost John the first time, he'd gone after him. “Lafayette-” the captain gasped in amazement. All the guards parted to the sides, forming a pathway for Lafayette to walk down. He headed straight for the bar. “You haven't seen him, you say?”  
“That would be correct…”  
“Then why on earth would someone bring the guards here…?” his words drifted off a little as he noticed a strange patch of wood that didn't quite fit with the rest of the flooring– tiles were facing the wrong way and there was a duck painted over it. There was also a lever– it couldn't have been more obvious.

“What’s this…?” Lafayette asked quietly, just pulling himself over the bar and crouching down in front of the lever. “What is it?” the guards gathered round to look at the lever.   
Lafayette stared at them in disbelief for a moment, waiting for them to work it out.  
“Well?” the captain asked.  
“Oh my- I'm surrounded by idiots…” Lafayette mumbled. He pulled the lever and the trap door opened.  
“Astonishing… Where does it lead to?”  
Lafayette face-palmed and ground. “Wherever it leads to, that is where they've gone, you morons!”  
“Oh… uh, men- proceed!” the captain demanded. They all headed down the steps, lead by Lafayette.

It seemed as though Martha and Frances has been abandoned and forgotten in the snuggly duckling. Martha looked around and grabbed a knife off a table, managing to break through the shackles restraining her wrists. She then broke through Frances’ and headed for the secret entrance. “Martha–” Frances protested hesitantly.  
“Oh, come on Franny- we're goin after Jackie!” She howled with excitement. “Lord knows he's gonna need help!”  
“Yeah, so do you…” Frances mumbled.  
“What was that?” Martha furrowed her brows, folding her arms.  
“Nothin, pretty as always!” Frances said, following after her and taking lead down the staircase.


	4. With help from a little bit of magic

When Alexander woke up, he had little to no idea how long he'd slept for. He found John asleep, despite him saying he'd keep watch. Not only was this thief asleep, but he also had his arms loosely wrapped around Alexander’s waist– a few seconds later and he'd realised his own arms were wrapped around John too and that he'd been using his chest as a pillow.

A little flustered, Alexander sat up and shifted out of John’s arm, moving away a little. “I’ll keep watch now then…” he mumbled to himself, folding his arms and bringing his knees up to his chest. He stared up at the roof of the cavern above as he rocked himself a little. There were lots and lots of stalactites hanging above them. Alexander partly wondered what it’d take to bring them all crashing down. After a while, he got bored and begun to draw little sun patterns in the dirt ground with his finger. He started to think about his latest life decisions, he couldn't determine whether or not they were bad or good. Should he really have trusted this John Laurens guy? He was a thief… Yet he also seemed oblivious to the powers and value of Alexander’s hair– What would he do if he knew? Hair that's been cut darkens and dies… if John knew that then would he just sell Alexander? The thought made him quite nervous.

“Stop it…” Alexander quietly scolded himself with a gentle slap to the cheeks. “Stop what…?” John spoke groggily as he sat up and yawned. Alexander shook his head, starting to play with his red hair– just brushing his fingers through it quickly. “Oh, nothing… I was just thinking aloud” Alexander admitted with a sheepish grin. “Sorry…”  
“Don’t worry about it…” John said with a small smile. “Oh uh, sorry. I may have dozed off…”  
“Yeah… I noticed…” Alexander smiled a little, starting to stand up. “Are you ready to go or do you need a bit of time?”  
“Yep, I'm pretty much ready to go”

The two continued to walk, not really saying much to each other. John decided he'd be the one to change that. “So…” He cleared his throat. “I’m not allowed to ask about the hair”  
“Nope” Alexander hummed.  
“Or the… living arrangements…”  
“Right, please don't”  
“But why haven't you ever left before…?”  
“Well…” Alexander sighed a little. “I…” Alexander stopped, noticing small rocks on the floor starting to vibrate. Heavy footsteps could soon be heard. “John-” Alexander started to worry a little. John looked down and then back towards the path they'd come from before instinctively grabbing Alexander’s hand.

Alexander and John ran, carrying on down the dark cold path– Alexander nearly slipping a few times. He had to gather up all his hair and carry it in his arms. There were a few paths they could have taken, but the one they took lead out onto a cliff. There were tracks that stopped, only just overhanging over the face of the cliff a d continued on the other side, it must have been a very old quarry. It was a little blizzardy but seemed to be on the verge of calming down. They could only just make out their surroundings. Below, at the bottom of the cliff, were more tunnels. The footsteps suddenly caught up with them, they turned as a bunch of guards burst out the way they'd come from. 

Lafayette pushed his way to the front of the guards, drawing out his sword, glaring at John. “Laurens…” he said through teeth gritted together. “I’ve got you now…”   
Alexander shoved his frying pan into my hands. “Jeez, how long have you had that thing?”  
“Uh, since we left?” Alexander shrugged. John shook his head and accepted the pan as it seemed to be the only thing he could defend himself with.

Sword fighting seemed to go surprisingly well for John, that was right up until the pan was knocked out of his hand and fell down bellow. Lafayette pointed his sword to John’s chin. John raised his hands in defense. As luck would have it, Alexander had already made it across to the other side successfully. He'd thrown his hair back over, successfully looping it round John’s hand. “John!” Alexander yelled, quickly tugging. John quickly grabbed onto Alexander’s long thick red curls and Alexander pulled, swinging John across– almost across. He landed on a ledge bellow– a small entrance leading off somewhere. Alexander quickly made his way down. He had hooked his hair over framework and using it to lower himself down like you might with a bucket into a well for water. The framework was quite old and not nearly as steady as it once was, on top of that it was extremely cold; causing Alex to grow nervous. It didn't help that Alexander’s hands slipped from his hair, causing him to drop at a faster pace– thankfully John was ready to catch him and successfully did.

John set Alexander down on the ground before turning to look up at the palace guards who'd just stood watching, honestly nervous and now relieved that Alexander hadn't hurt himself. Lafayette however, realised how steady the framework really was and shoved his sword into the wood, causing it all to collapse forwards, against the other side. It crashed against the cliff, which itself wasn't exactly stable, causing a bit of a landslide– and avalanche to add onto the situation. Alexander and John headed into the entrance for cover, unfortunately it may not have been their wisest option– not that they had many options.

“…And who the heck was that girl?!” Martha scoffed. She and Francis had stood and watched from another entrance that lead out from deep under the snuggly duckling. “Don’t get jealous now…” Francis shook his head. “Anyway, Is that really what's important?”  
“Uhm, yes!” Martha scoffed. “Let’s get outta here, he's found a new friend, he doesn't need us…”  
“Martha!” Francis snapped. “Don’t get jealous just because he's met someone, besides I’m not sure if its even a girl-”  
“But they're totally his type!” Martha cried.  
“Maybe…” Francis looked across at the blocked entrance for a moment. “But that's not what's important right now… Quit being hysterical, we gotta go- if he survives that we'll run into him again…”

Trapped in a small cave surrounded by rocks, Alexander and John looked around for a way out of the mess they were in– but it soon occured to then that it was useless. That's when water started to rise. “I’m such an idiot!” Alexander scolded as the water continued to rise at quite a fast pace. “This is all my fault!” he looked around, though there wasn't much point, he couldn't exactly see much in the cave. He was holding tightly onto John’s wrist, desperate to remind himself he wasn't alone. “If I hadn't left my tower, you'd be out there right now, not stick and probably about to down!”

“No…” John sighed softly, looking off to the side, watching the water surrounding them, it was freezing. He shivered. “I let my friends get captured, we were on the run. If I hadn't found your tower and climbed it, I'd probably be dead…”

The two were quiet for a moment and suddenly Alexander gasped, looking up at John with a more upbeat cheery expression than before. There was hope, just as the water rose above their shoulder's. “My hair!”  
“What…?” John asked, confused as ever.  
“When I sing, it glows, it's magical!” Alexander exclaimed.  
“No, that's crazy…”

“Flower, gleam and glow… let your power shine…” Alexander began to sing, his vibrant red hair, gaining a yellowish glow- his hair soon more the colour of fire. “make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine…” Alexander continued to sing as the water continued to rise. The two took a deep breath. Alexander’s hair as bright as ever, lit up the whole cavern, they could see everything sort of clearly. A very shocked John noticed a pile of rubble and went for it, digging his way through, chucking rocks back. The glow to Alexander’s hair began to dim, but that was okay, John had found their way out– they just needed to keep digging…


	5. The return of a prince

The sun was setting and the icy river sparkled. A tick blanket of snow covered everything around beautifully. Everything seemed calm and still, despite the winter's bitter chill. The river was more of a stream that trickled out slowly between the rocks at the foot of a cliff. Suddenly, a hand burst through, a few small rocks and rubble was sent flying in different directions— plopping into the icy water. More water now able to break through, pushing its way down stream.

John continued to burrow through rocks, he almost couldn't believe it when he fell out into the stream, not particularly gracefully. The two had made it, they were safe– well, as safe as you could be late into the day with little to no light in the coldest month of the year. Alexander John pulled themselves out onto the land. Alexander coughed, choking up water, his wet hair draped over his shoulder.

“Hey, you okay?” John asked, lifting Alexander to his feet as he knew sinking into the snow wasn't going to do any good. The two of them made it to somewhere dryer than besides the wood. They'd managed to create a pit of stones and built what was eventually a working fire. Both of them dried off surprisingly quickly in the heat– well, they didn't completely dry, but they were somewhat warm.

Alexander sat beside their little campfire. He carefully pulled out on of the sticks, dunking it into the snow. He started to draw little pictures in the ground. John had gotten up to search for more wood for the fire. After some time, Alex grew bored of drawings circles and swirls in the snow; he sat forwards, head in his hands and watched the flames flicker and dance. He seemed to quite like watching the fire, it burnt the wood beneath it quite quietly and watching the flames felt calming almost. A small smile slipped its way across Alexander’s lips.

“You’ve caused me an awefull lot’a time comin’ out fo find ya, you know?” A familiar thick accent rung throughout Alexander’s ears. He stood, smoothed out his pants and cloak and turned to face the witch. “Thomas–” Alex gasped quietly, shocked the the one who'd cared for Alex all these years was stood before him. “When did you… how did you—”  
“I just followed the scent of complete and utter betrayal and look where that lead me” Thomas sneered a little, advancing forwards a step and removing his hood. “We’re going home Alexander”  
“What?” Alexander quietly asked under his breath. “No, Thomas– I met someone…!”  
“Oh I know” Thomas scoffed, rolling his eyes. “A wanted thief, I'm so proud. But it's time to go, Alexander”  
“No, wait… but he's taking me to see the floating lights, sure it's been scary but it's incredible and… and I think he likes me!”  
“Likes you? Come on now, really? Look at you, you think that he’s impressed? Don't be a dummy–”  
“I’m not going back to that tower, I am going to see those lights” Alexander furrowed his brows and crossed his arms. Thomas thought for a moment before speaking up again. “Oh, I see how it is. You know best now, do you?” He scowled. He pulled out a bag from under his cloak– the same satchel Alexander had hidden to blackmail John into taking him to see the lights. His eyes lit up and he gasped as Thomas roughly shoved it into his chest. “Then show him this. He will leave you and you will be all on your own! No more help from me!”

…And just like that, Thomas left again. Alexander considered calling out to Thomas, but held himself back and sighed. He hid the satchel under his cloak, thinking for a moment.

John found Alexander in a daze. “Alex…?” he asked softly as he approached. He placed a gentle hand on the boy’s back, causing him to tense a little. But once he'd turned to face John less than a second later, he relaxed a bit. “Are you alright?”  
Alexander shrugged and managed a smile. “I’m okay” John wasn't entirely sure about Alwx’s answer, still he bit back his worries as he chewed his lip and shook his head. “Good… I found somewhere”

John lead Alexander, not too far from their campfire, to a small shelter he'd found. It was nothing fancy, just wooden walls and a roof– John was honestly surprised to find the place, he'd slipped and misjudged his surroundings, finding the shack like structure at the bottom of his drop.

“It’s… nice” Alexander muttered, walking in and sitting down on the floor, which was pretty cold still, but it wasn't like sitting in the snow. John hummed in agreement as he'd picked up what seemed to be used as a door, leaning it against the entrance. John sat down beside Alexander and sighed, stretching out his legs a little. “Hey, I’m sorry…” he sucked in a breath.  
“What for…?” Alex turned to face him. “You didn't…”  
“You could have died back there, I feel responsible”  
“Oh- don't…” Alexander touched his shoulder gently. “I was the one that wanted to come and see the lights…”

“So, uhm…” Alexander cleared his throat. “Now that we're not running from danger, I have some questions…” John furrowed his brows a little but then sighed, looking down at the ground. “Shoot”  
“Your background…” Alexander mumbled cautiously. Why'd they want you dead… it's got to be more than that crown right…?” John looked back up, smiling weakly. He didn't really want to bring up his past, he did feel like he owed Alexander an answer though– he really could have died back there.

“When I was a kid…” John started. “Well, I have a fair few amount of siblings and actually, we were well off– for a while. Everything changed when my mother died though, our father turned nasty and sent me and my brothers away. He couldn't afford alcoholism, two beautiful daughters and three boys in the house. Said we were welcome back if we made a fortune-”  
“So you stole that crown?” Alexander guessed.  
“Actually, no.” John said. “We have a safe house, it's nowhere near close but still. We found this old unused house. I went out and stole, sometimes money, sometimes other things, to provide for them. Last I'd heard, my sister's left home too, as far as I know, they're all in that house. Anyway, one day we’re all going to be living much more comfortably. I'll look after all my siblings, and Martha and Francis–”  
“Martha and Francis?” Alexander perked up a little.  
“Oh, right” John nodded. “My friends. I guess you could say we all wound up in similar situations. They helped me steal. We looked after one another and looked out for each other, I suppose they're a lot like family too”  
Alexander nodded a little, though he'd become sleepy. He curled up on the floor and closed his eyes. “You’re looking out for your family, it's sweet” John smiled a little before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

The kingdom was silent as night fell– that was only natural. It was cold and the next few days was going to be busy for everyone. The missing princes’ birthday would be celebrated the day after next and at the end of it all, lanterns would be lit and released up into the night sky. But nobody knew they'd wake up the next morning to the return of a prince.

The entire kingdom was silent, it was incredibly and bitterly cold. Everything was covered in thick blankets of snow. Even so they rode in bareback on a horse. The trotting of the horse didn't seem to wake anyone. The hotel was taken to the stables and provided with some water and food. After the horse was settled in, it’s riders walked straight into the palace.

“Is this really okay?” Anna asked. She wore a long blue satin robe. Her hair, a light brown, tied back in a loose braid. Her skin pale, making her plump pink lips stick out more. Her eyes were an enchanting silver. “Of course, my dear” the returning prince reassured. “They shall adore their possible future Queen nearly as much as I do” James kissed Anna’s temple softly and took her hand in his. “Will they remember you?” Anna asked. From what she knew, her beloved James was still quite young when he left to find his father.

A set of double doors open and in walked a tall man with a kind smile– hi s hair has started to turn grey. George Washington. He presented the two with a king smile and bowed. “You have finally returned…”  
James nodded, looking around. “Is there a bed for Anna?”  
“She’s your guest, is she not?”

Washington lead the two up a set of stairs and to a large room. There was a huge bed a few steps from the window and a cushioned windowsill overlooking the entirety of the kingdom. There was a big fancy looking wardrobe and a dresser too. On the wall opposite from the bed was a fireplace. They lit the fire and warmed up the place. Anna and James both changed into a warmer set of clothing. Anna sat in the center of the bed under the covers and James sat on the edge. He didn't want to leave her side. “This is Anna” He gestured to the lady in the bed. “My future wife. I know I've been gone for such a long time, I wanted to apologise to my mother– Where is she?” George was silent on the matter. He wasn't sure whether It was the right time to address the matter and inform James that Rachel had in fact fallen ill and passed away some time after he left.

“I’m sure your mother would have loved her,” George said, “We’ll discuss things in the morning, am I assuming you are sleeping in here with miss Anna, or will you be sleeping apart?”  
“I’m staying with Anna, thank you George”  
“Good night your majesty” George bowed, soon taking his leave.


	6. A village of ghosts

Alexander slept soundly, despite the cold. In all fairness, his was so thick and long, it covered him like an extra blanket- and John too. Without really intending on getting overly close, Alexander had wiggled his way closer to John and cuddles closer to him. John- used to cuddling closer to his siblings and on occasion, close friends Martha and Francis to keep warm- didn't really have any complaints. He was pretty much out of it anyway. 

When morning arrived, John was the first to wake. After removing what felt like mountains of hair, he sat up, gently removing Alexander's arms which were draped over his torso. He stood stood and stretched, glancing down at Alexander for a moment. Wow, John... He thought to himself. You've still got it. He shook his head, disregarding the thought as he walked over to the blocked off door to the shack.

John forcefully lifted the door with all his strength and moved it to the side. Snow fell, tumbling in through the doorway. He peered out and whistled- the scene was really something. Sure, it was cold, but there was no wind. It was calm and they were surrounded by snow. Hearing the chirp of a bird made him smile, but the cheeriness of the morning was soon taken away when he was grabbed and shoved roughly to a tree.

The attacker was Lafayette and he had a mean look on his face. He'd been trying to track John down since the day before, despite the possibility that he could've been dead- which is what all the other guards had assumed and left. "I have you now..." he said through gritted teeth. John gulped, his eyes darting down to Lafayette's waist; he noticed that his sword was missing... the sheaf too. In fact, the man before him wasn't even wearing armour- just his shirt and a pair of pants, he should have been shivering.

"Where's your sword?" John smirked. Lafayette's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. "That's none of your-" he shook his head, furrowing his brows as he glared daggers. "You don't get to ask questions!"

Alexander woke up to the yelling. Still a bit tired, he got up, parting his hair out of his face. Looking straight through the doorway, he was faced with snow, snow, and oh look, more snow. He slowly and cautiously walked out and round the corner- adjusting his cloak and satchel underneath. He vaguely recognised Lafayette who'd had the sword fight with John yesterday- but of course, he didn't know his name-. He scowled, narrowing his eyes at the scene before him; the angry guard holding John against a tree. Part of him felt almost possessive over John.

"Get off my guide!" Alexander walked to the two of them carelessly, pushing them apart. "Very... long... hair..." Lafayette muttered as he stared. He was lost in a daze for a moment, just letting himself get shoved back a few steps before shaking his head and coming back to reality. His features remained softened under Alexander's gaze. "He's a bad man," he gestured. "I have to take him back to the kingdom where he'll be locked up for his crimes."  
"No-" Alexander almost snapped. "He's escorting me to the palace so that I can see the lights on my birthday, then he's escorting me back" Lafayette was left stunned for a short moment before he spoke up, almost in disbelief. "Your birthday is tomorrow?"

Something about that conversation made Lafayette lower his guard a little and he agreed, for some reason, not to hurt John. Soon they were on their way, heading for the kingdom.

"So," Alexander walked at Lafayette's side for a bit. "You're a palace guard?"  
John who was walking in front scoffed. "Not much guarding to do, huh?" Lafayette just rolled his eyes in response. "And where's your armour and sword?" Alexander shot a flare at John, scowling just a little. "You're being mean," he scolded gently as he turned his attention back to Lafayette. "But uh, that is a good question..."  
“Stolen…” Lafayette muttered quietly, his cheeks turning pink. “I was so frustrated that I couldn't find…” He narrowed his eyes, glancing forward at John. “Anyway, when I woke up, all my stuff was gone…” John couldn't help but smirk, he found it rather amusing that this particular palace guard was robbed. He fell back behind, walking at Alexander’s side. “But the snow,” he said innocently. “Would you not get drenched, if not frozen to death?”  
“I found a shelter of sorts…” Lafayette looked off to the side. “Anyway, I was actually looking for a clue to finding my gear when I spotted you”  
“And the other guards…?” John asked cautiously.  
“You’re safe, Laurens” Lafayette chuckled dryly. “They all turned back yesterday. It's just me”

Lafayette, John and Alexander all walked together for a while. They were chatting and laughing, they didn't even feel particularly hungry, despite having not really eaten yesterday. Lafayette stuck with the two because it was better than walking back alone– they were heading to the same place anyway– And maybe, just maybe John wasn't so bad. He became rather interested in Alexander too, his long hair was one thing, but it was also to do with the fact that his birthday was on the lost princes birthday– of course it could have been a coincidence, but he had this guy feeling that the two were connected in some way, he just hadn't gotten to that conclusion just yet.

They had a village to pass through, then the capital and Palace wouldn't be far off. They hadn't even stepped into the village, but they already got this eerie vibe from it. John definitely wasn't eager to be there. He had turned sickly pale and he buckled up and stood his ground. Alexander felt a strange connection to the run down village, like he'd been there before, but he knew he hadn't. Lafayette’s face was pained, he felt almost guilty. “Do you think anyone can spare some food…?” Alexander asked hopefully– and a little cheerfully, trying to ease the weird tension. Lafayette looked down at Alexander with regretful eyes. “I don't think anyone was spared”  
“What do you–” Alexander started but was interrupted by a crows bark, making him jump a little. John shook his head. “This is where I met Martha” he admitted.  
“Martha?” Lafayette asked.  
“One of my friends” John grimaced. “Came here to steal. Hadn't eaten in a while and Martha’s family fixed me up with something, like the kind people they were. Martha came with us after.” Lafayette and Alexander just nodded. “The place looked pretty bad back then and it looks awful now”  
Lafayette hummed. “Doesn’t look like anyone's lived here in a while–”

The cry of a baby put Alexander on alert. He ran for a small house– the crying coming from inside. “Alex wait a minute–” John warmed, but he didn't listen. He forced a door open with his shoulder– it was stuck as though it hadn't been opened in a very long time. The house was surprisingly tidy– as tidy as an abandoned house can be. There was a cabinet of bowls and plates and silverware. There was a sink by a window, mould growing. Behind Alexander was a table, chairs tucked in neatly around it. On top of the table was a neat pile of letters, all tied together with a silk green ribbon. Alexander quite liked the ribbon. He grazed hid fingers over the name Miss Rachel Faucette but quickly tore his gaze away, the sound of a babies cry reminding him why he'd run in. He approached a staircase, boards creaking under his weight. He was careful as he headed up. The source of the crying had come from a baby lying on the bed. The poor thing had unswaddled itself and was throwing it's fists about the place, but the crying wasn't like before, it was somewhat calmer. Alexander approached slowly, the child now shoving it's fingers in it's mouth. Alexander lifted the child up carefully, it barely weighed anything. “Shh” Alex cooed and the baby giggled quietly, much happier to be held. It leaned over Alexander’s shoulder, reaching for his long red hair. Alexander carried the baby back downstairs and to the table with the letters.

Alexander held the baby carefully with one arm as he carefully untied the ribbon, pocketing it. He opened up the envelopes, finding large sums of money, scribbled down on cheques. Some of them were just letters, addressed to this Rachel woman, he had the urge to pocket them, slipping it all into the satchel under his cloak. The baby clapped and babbled happily. “Who’d leave you all alone, eh?” Alexander asked.

“Alex,” John asked, stepping in, Lafayette close behind him. Alexander turned to face them both. “I found a baby, left all alone…”  
“What’re you talking about?” Lafayette asked. They both looked at him as if he was crazy. Alexander turned to face the child and it just vanished into a cloud of dust. “But I…” Alexander muttered, confused. “A baby- it was–”  
“We found food” John announced. “In another abandoned house. All preserved surprisingly well.”  
“You look cold,” Lafayette added in. “Pale, like you've seen a ghost. Come on, we're going to fix up a fire…” he placed an arm around Alexander, guiding him out.

Ghost huh, Alexander thought as they walked out, maybe.

John and Lafayette brought Alexander to the house they'd found. Well deserved cushions and a chair set in front of a warm fire. They sat Alexander down in the chair seeing how cold he looked. The fire crackled and Alexander snuggled in the chair, bringing his knees up. John brought over some cake with marmalade spread on, offering the stiff to Alexander. He raised a brow in response. “I have no idea how old it is” John admitted, “But it looks good… Smells alright too”  
“It’s fresh” Lafayette suggested, “Whether that means someone is coming back for it– I don't know. If somebody does come back, I'll pay them” Alexander just nodded, eating the cake. They were right, it tasted fine.

The three sat keeping warm for a while, they didn't say anything, it was nice. Lafayette even dozed off; John joked that they should ditch him but Alexander was very much against the idea. Alexander couldn't stop thinking about the ghost-baby from before. He wondered why she– he'd decided it was a baby girl– would call for he of all people, but disappear in the presence of John or Lafayette.

John and Lafayette had both dozed off, curled up in front of the fire. Alexander got bored, he stood up and stretched. He felt drawn to the back door. It’s probably nothing… he told himself, but still felt compelled to approach. He made his way over quietly, opening the back door slowly. The garden was practically empty, except for a crate sat against the stone wall. The crate was covered in snow– as was everything. He walked over and crouched, gently slipping his fingers under the crate. The cold snow against his fingers almost hurt, but he came to the realization that the crate was where the snow stopped. He lifted up the crate, underneath, was a flower.

The flower was a burning red, a fire like gold aura surrounding it. The flower was warm and Alexander’s touch seemed to make the flower glow brighter, his hair glowing a little too. Suddenly, Alexander felt something against his head. A pistol.

“You blame me” Lafayette said. John and he had woken up a moment after Alexander got up. They were just talking– well, it was more like silent glances. “No,’ John said, “Well yes…”  
“I get it…” Lafayette sighed. “But I had no control over this place. I requested to be positioned here several times, but I was refused. Stopped getting reports from Charles Lee, requested again and was still refused. So-” there was the sound of cluttering outside. They decided they ought to go and check it out.

Lafayette and John rushed out to a man holding a pistol to Alexander’s head. Alex looked terrified.


	7. A protected flower

"Put the damn pistol down-!" John lunged forward, but Lafayette through his arm out, gesturing for him to shut up and think for a moment.

"General Lee," Lafayette bowed respectfully. "It's an honour. Could you please lower your... Pistol" Lafayette spoke of the weapon like it discussed him. "And let my associate go"  
"And who are you then?" Charles Lee's lips curled into a smirk as he scoffed. He lowered his gun, now pointing at John and Lafayette- but his hand remained grasped tightly around Alexander's hair, close to the roots.

Lafayette sighed heavily. "My name is Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette," he said quickly. "We were hunting down a criminal and we separated from the rest of our group. We were on our way back to the capital and we were ambushed and robbed. We stopped for supplies- but it seems rather deserted"  
"Your friend here has unusually long hair" Lee commented.  
"Yes, now release him please"

Lee let go of Alexander's hair, kicking him forwards. "He was snooping through things that don't belong to him." Lafayette and John both helped Alexander scramble to his feet. "Like what?" The two asked simultaneously, cocking their heads to the side. Alex was still in slight shock, holding onto Lafayette and John's shoulder's tightly. He gasped, "A flower...!"

John and Lafayette looked stunned then looked to each other as if having a private conversation;

Is he crazy? Lafayette probably would have been asking.  
Yes, but no, Would probably be John's response. I mean, if it weren't for his hair, we'd be dead.

Lafayette seemingly disregarded Alexander’s fascination in the flower and turned back to Charles Lee. "I take it was you currently occupy this house. You were stationed here, what happened to everyone?"  
"Died" Lee shrugged like it was nothing.  
"Why didn't we receive a report? We could have sent aid."  
"We did send one" Lee claimed, but Lafayette sensed that he was lying. "But I guess word never made it to the capital"  
"I guess not..." Lafayette frowned. “Anyway… I'm assuming you occupy this house. I'll send payment for the food we used later on, unless you'd like to travel with us back to the palace?” he offered.  
“No…” Lee shook his head. “I’m fine just where I am, you ought to hurry on back to the palace” he declined. 

John looped an arm around Alexander’s as the three of them all turn to leave– Alex’s eyes reluctant to leave the flower. Just as they were about to leave, Lee had a sudden change of heart. They'd seen the flower, he couldn't let them leave… He ripped Alexander away and held him close, his pistol pressed just above his ear. “Put him down!” Lafayette yelled.  
“Oh no, not now that you know my secret” Lee said, “None of you can go– your friend here found it first so he'll be the first to die!” he barked. 

Being restrained wasn't fun and you couldn't exactly move around a lot of wriggle your way free. The more Alexander tried, the tighter Lee squeezed his arm around him. However, it just do happened that there was something he could do as the man's arm was pretty close to his face. Alexander nodded his head down and ruthlessly bit him, sinking his teeth into the skin. “You little shit!” Lee cried, releasing Alexander and flailing his arm around. John took the opportunity to advance forward and kicked him in the stomach– causing him to double over in pain. Lafayette, John and Alexander didn't want to waste much more time, so they quickly left– leaving Lee to freeze in the cold snow. 

John laughed a little as the three persevered through the thick snow. “Alex, how hard did you bite him?”  
“He tasted like dirt…” Alexander complained quietly, poking his tongue out in disgust.  
“You definitely didn't need to bite him so hard…” Lafayette chimed in, laughing just a little. “But what was so important about that flower…?” he pondered aloud.  
“It was like me…” Alexander muttered.  
“What- what do you mean?” both Lafayette and John asked at the same time.  
“The flower, I sensed it. It was like me…” he repeated in a way he hoped they might understand.  
“Okay…” Lafayette nodded a little, still thinking. “Then– and I mean no offense– what's so important about you?” and just like that, they fell into silence.

Lafayette thought about Alex; to be more specific, he was thinking about what he'd said about that flower. He remembered the story about how Queen Rachel once got very sick. Palace guards had retrieved a flower and stewed it down to heal the queen, which actually worked. Apparently the missing prince– the child she was pregnant with when she got sick– had qualities similar to that magical flower. Lee had seemed so possessive over that flower, Lafayette wondered whether they were the same, though scripture claimed that there had been only one flower– but perhaps that wasn't so strictly true. And then there was Alex– whom felt a connection with the flower. In the end, Lafayette chose to brush it off as a coincidence. I’m thinking into this too much, he scolded.

They reached the bridge to the city surrounding the palace a short time before it began to get dark– which was quite early given the time of year. The water either side of the bridge was frozen solid, though there were cracks so the sheet of ice couldn't have been particularly strong. Even with all the cracks, Alex thought it looked pretty. 

Alexander was leaning over the edge of the bridge with a small smile on his face. A small snowflake floated down slowly, landing on his nose. “Alex,” John interrupted his little moment. “Aren’t you cold?”

Lafayette sighed a little. “I rent a room above a bakery, you guys can stay there too. It's going to snow a lot more, you know? Even you, John Laurens, don't deserve to freeze.” John and Alexander both smiled a little and Lafayette lead them to his one room apartment.

It was a rather cozy looking apartment– there were two bed on opposite sides of the room and a bookshelf in one of the corners of the room. Next to the window was a small table with a chair tucked in, a bag hooked over the back. Sat on the table was a candle. “It’s cute” Alexander commented as they shuffled in.  
“Yeah, but what do you do about washes?” John chimed in with a smirk. Lafayette face heated up and he furrowed his brows. “Well usually, it's just me– I have a bucket which I fill up with hot water…” he grumbled a little.  
“Yeah, but why two beds?” Alexander asked.  
“Came with the room.” Lafayette shrugged. “But I guess you could call it convenient now”  
“There’s three of us” John pointed out.   
“Yeah and two of us are sharing” Lafayette shrugged. “You’d be on the floor if I only had one”

“You have books!” Alexander’s eyes lit up as he made his way to the bookshelf. He turned to face Lafayette with a huge smile on his face. “Can I read one?”  
“Uh, sure? Knock yourself out” Alexander skimmed the titles of each book before stopping his finger at a book that caught his interest. He took the book and sat down at the table in front of the window.

It had already begun to get dark. Lafayette had made sure the window was securely shut and lit the candle so that Alexander could read better. He then left to get some food and other supplies. John sat on the spare bed over on the other side of the room, just thinking to himself. After a while, he spoke up, “Are you sleeping with me or Lafayette?” he asked.  
“I’m reading” Alex mumbled.  
“I know but, when it comes to it, who are you sharing with?”  
Alexander looked up from the book and stretched his arms out across the table carefully. “I don't know, do you think he's warm? It's his apartment though, we're already intruding…”  
“So, me then?” John asked.  
“Does it really matter?” Alex asked, a small grin playing at his lips.  
“No…” John mumbled.  
Alex opened his mouth to say something else, but Lafayette walked in, holding a paper bag. He shut the door and walked over to Alexander, handing him warm bread– and the same to John. He had his own and sat on his bed. “I had to report back to the palace” he said, “So they knew I was okay. I didn't tell them you were here John Laurens, but if they found out you were with me, I think they'd be pretty upset. I met the future Queen too, she's very nice.”  
“Future Queen?” John asked, surprised.  
“Mhm, our previous king and Queen’s eldest son has returned, his wife to be is with him as well. Her name is Anna.” 

It wasn't long before ,John and Lafayette were convincing Alexander to sleep, telling him the book would still be there tomorrow– and that he could even keep it if he didn't finish it. Lafayette took his own bed and John and Alexander shared. They cuddled close for warmth and soon fell asleep.

By the bridge to the palace, Francis and Martha were camping out in the woods. “It’s so cold” Martha complained and shivered, even stomping her foot out of frustration. “It can't be helped…” Francis frowned, sitting on a log, staring down at his shoes. “It’s the wrong kind of year for bouncing from place to place across the kingdom.  
“I just want hugs with John” Martha whined, crossing her arms. “Why’d he run off with some other girl?!”  
“I told you, I don't think it's a girl…” Francis sighed. He held out his arm. “C’mon, you have me. I know I'm not the same, but I don't mind hugs…” Martha reluctantly sat down beside Francis and snuggled up to him. “He still has that stupid crown…” she grumbled.  
“I know…” Francis sighed. “We’ll figure things out okay? When we have the chance, we'll have our answers. Don't get so worked up…” Martha sniffled, wiping her eyes as Francis hugged her.

“You’re looking for John Laurens?” Came a voice. Martha and Francis turned, but their was no one there. They let out a shaky breathe, relieved as they turned back. But then they jumped a little, a dark figure stood before them, a dark cloaked figure, Thomas.

“Who are you?” Martha and Francis tensed up, reaching for daggers in their pockets. Oh please” Thomas rolled his eyes. “I’m not here to hurt you and I'm not planning on turning you in unless you leave me no choice” he scoffed.   
“Then what do you want?” Francis frowned.  
“Justice” Thomas said simply, a glow to his eyes– which was weird because it was dark. “Your friend John Laurens? Not only has he taken that silly crown for himself but he's found something much more valuable”  
“Valuable?” Martha asked. “That girl?”  
“Boy” Thomas corrected. “I assume you'll want to turn your friend in for this, for abandoning you and keeping that poor boy and the magical qualities he possesses all to himself”  
“Yes” Francis said quickly.  
Wait, but that doesn't really sound like John… Martha thought. But still, she did feel overwhelmed and part of her agreed. In the moment, turning John in as a punishment of sort did seem like the only logical thing to do…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now you're up to date.


	8. A book about the flower

Alexander woke up, arms around John and leg’s tangled with his. He sat up and quickly shifted a couple of inches, a slight blush spreading across his cheeks. He wondered whether Lafayette knew how close they were last night; the answer was of course, yes.

Lafayette was sat next to the window, already awake. Next to him on the table was a plate of fruit cake. “What’s that for…?” Alexander asked, still slightly half asleep. Lafayette looked over and smiled a little. “Lady that runs the bakery made it, said I could share it with my guests. Do you want some?”  
“You seem… well, you weren't exactly unpleasant yesterday, but you seem nicer?” Alexander said, shuffling to the end of the bed and picking up the book he'd started reading yesterday.  
“Yes well, last night I had a decent night's sleep last night” Lafayette shrugged a bit.

When John finally woke up, Alexander chose to eat. He thought it might have been rude to eat without him. The three ate thin slices of cake together. “So, what's the plan for the day?” Lafayette asked, looking out the window. The whole kingdom was covered in snow, arguably more snow than the night before had brought. “Is there a book store?” Alexander asked. “I’d like to find more books that I've never read before”  
“Yes. If you're taking John in- well, please be cautious” Alexander nodded.

Before long, John and Alexander left Lafayette’s small apartment above the bakery to explore the city, or find a book store– whichever came first really. Either nobody cared or they didn't really know John was a thief, which was great because they were able to move around the city easily. There were a fair few palace guards patrolling, but the sheer number of people made it easy to hide John as they went around. Eventually, they found the book shop.

Alexander smiled a little as he and John headed inside. A bell above the door chimed quietly. Behind the desk was an old lady, flicking through a book– a pair of circular glasses balanced on the end of her nose. “Good morning” she hummed, not even looking up from her book. Alexander and John looked around, scanning the shelves for something interesting.

Alexander somehow convinced John to let him sit on his shoulders so that he could see more of the books on the shelves he couldn't quite reach. He ran his finger across the shelf, probably collecting up a lot of dust. Alexander’s eyes lit up when he picked up a random book at the end of the shelf– it had no cover. When he opened the book, on the first page was the sketch of a very familiar flower.

“Found something?” John asked after a few minutes.  
“What– oh, yes” Alexander nodded holding onto the book. John crouched down slightly, letting Alexander carefully slide off his back. “What is it?” John asked.  
“I don't really know…”

Alexander walked up to the counter, setting the book down on top. “Excuse me, how much for the–”  
“That’s not one of ours, dear” the lady said– like before, her head still in her book. “What do you mean?” Alexander blinked a little. “It was on she shelf, can I not buy it…?”  
“Not mine to sell” She said. “It’s not actually from our collection of books– take it though, you can have it. It's just building up dust”  
“Okay…” Alexander picked up the book and skeptically backed away, eyes peeled.

“So?” John asked as Alexander stepped out and down the few steps. He'd gone outside to wait as the room was a bit too stuffy and for once, he favoured the cold. Though, it didn't seem too cold. “She gave it to me for free…” Alexander blinked a few times.  
“A little odd” John hummed.  
“Yes…” Alexander agreed. “Yes it was…” The two of them sat by a fountain for a while– just thinking about what they'd be doing next. A girl suddenly appeared before them, though she hadn't yet noticed. She wore a pink dress, grey stockings and a beige coat. She had dark hair ties back in a bun. She tapped Alexander’s shoulder gently and he soon looked up with a puzzled expression.

“Excuse me, you have really long hair…” She commented. “Is it not difficult to drag it around everywhere?”  
“It might be” Alexander shrugged. “But I'm used to it– I don't mind”  
“Well…” The girl looked back behind her. “I have two sisters and uh, they saw your hair and want to do something with it” she seemed to move her hands a lot, trying to find the right words.

To Alexander, this sounded a lot like ‘Hey, we want your hair, cooperate or suffer.’ He was torn. On one hand, Thomas had once told him people were dangerous and just want his hair for themselves and would stop at nothing to take it, he had to protect it— on the other hand, Thomas wasn't exactly a great person. If Alexander cooperated and let someone take his excessive amount of hair, thinking it was worth anything once cut from the roots, Thomas might actually leave Alexander alone. As much as Alexander cared about Thomas, it wasn't nearly enough to stay up in that tower day in and day out for the rest of his life when he had a choice. He'd decided that the moment he left that place. He'd made the promise to himself that he would, but what for?

“-to braid” The girl said, bringing Alexander back to reality. “We’ve never seen someone with such long beautiful hair, would you allow us to play with it a little, this place is bound to get busier, it'll be easier to walk around with such long hair reduced in length temporarily…” She said. Alexander looked to John for an answer, he didn't really know why, he just figured John might have an answer. But John just shrugged. It wasn't even a life or death situation, as far as Alexander could tell, he just wasn't sure what to say to her request. “Okay” he replied after a moment, “sure…”

The girls name was Angelica, her two sisters; Elizabeth and Margareta. The sisters all wore roughly the same outfit, but in different colours. In blue was Elizabeth, or Eliza– her hair wavy and tied back, though she let it drape over her shoulders. Margareta, though she preferred, simply, Peggy, had dark curls that bounced on her shoulders– she was the sister dressed in yellow. Angelica had said all this to them on the walk over to her sisters, which really wasn't that far. Her sisters no longer had much of an introduction to offer. Alexander also had to jump in a few times and tell Angelica he was in fact a boy. Alexander sat on a step while all three sister got to work on his hair.

Some sisters less distracted than the other. Peggy couldn't help but stare at John. He just had a very familiar face and it took her a bit of time, but she soon made the connection. “You’re John Laurens, aren't you?” she gasped.  
“I might be” John grinned. He couldn't help but feel like a celebrity in the moment– especially thanks to the look on Peggy’s face. However, at the same time it put him on edge, there was no way a seventeen year old could recognise John but other people could not. He was here for Alexander and if he didn't want to get caught, he'd have to stay alert. “Cool!” Peggy smiled, leaning back and kicking her legs. “Eliza is training to be a palace guard” she casually said.  
“What?!” John choked.  
“I am not-” Eliza rolled her eyes. “Girls can't train to be a palace guard. I'm merely a lady in waiting.” Eliza said. “That said, I do actually take up secret lessons when I'm off duty, just not that often” she stacked a flower to Alexander’s hair. “They’d attached tons of flowers to his hair as they went along, braiding his hair.

John shifted a little, without having even realised. Angelica smirked slightly, eyeing the young man up and down. “Don’t worry. We're not going to tell anyone. Actually, nobody will except maybe a palace guard– several people will have recognized you by now, you'd have been captured by now if they planned on telling the guards. They don't want today's festivities to end, you know? I guess them trying to catch you would ruin that.”

“There, all done” Eliza said with a smile as Alexander stood up. Now his hair was just about an inch or so off the ground. He grinned and turned, taking Eliza’s hands. “Thank you so much, what can I give you in return?”  
“Oh, uh, nothing–” Eliza looked away all flustered.  
“Are you sure?” Alexander asked, tilting his head to the side.  
“Mhm” Eliza bit her lip, refusing to meet his gaze. “I’m fine, really.”  
“If you say so…” Alexander said, turning to John. “Hey J–” he noticed Angelica playfully smack John’s shoulder. He furrowed his eyes a little… Why did it make him feel… mad?

“Johnny-” Alexander snaked an arm around John’s. “Let’s go do something else…”  
John blinked a few times, looking down at Alexander. His conversation with Angelica had become somewhat dry and awkward. Now here he was, presented with an opportunity to go. “Where do you want to go?” John asked, now focusing entirely on the redhead.  
“Somewhere a little quieter?” Alexander suggested with a sheepish smile. “I have a lot of reading to do…”  
John smiled and nodded to the three girls. “Thank you, ladies” he hummed, we're going to go back to our friend’s place to avoid all the noise and crowds.”  
Eliza nodded. “Maybe we'll see you later? At the prince’s speach”  
“Maybe?” John shrugged, though he doubted it.

Alexander and John headed back up to Lafayette’s little apartment above the bakery. The fruitcake Lafayette had bought this morning, sat on the table, most of it still there. They didn't really eat a lot. Alexander dramatically flopped down onto the bed, holding his book out. “The pages look so old…” He commented, carefully turning the cover. John chuckled a little, gently placing himself down on the edge of the bed, beside Alexander.

John found himself watching Alexander closely. The back of his red head was just so cute. He wanted to see his violet eyes and just stare into them like there was no tomorrow. “John” Alexander soon said. John blinked a few times and shook his head for a moment before realizing he'd been out of it for a few minutes. “Er yeah? What is it?”

“Look at this!” Alexander exclaimed before begining to read out the neatly written page. “The flower was believed to be a gift to us witches from the moon and the sun. They blossomed in the moonlight and possessed healing qualities. The sun gifted it a red hot glow with a single drop of sunlight. We once had a whole field of them…”   
“That sounds a lot like you” John laughed with a chuckle. “You have that song, which mentions healing, right? And you have a red hot glow.” he added. Alexander’s cheeks burned crimson and he just turned back down to continue reading, occasionally getting John’s attention again when reading something interesting. John didn't particularly mind sitting there in silence, it was quite pleasant actually. He didn't mind if Alexander talked either, of course. Being around Alexander in general just felt right. Though, he did get a sense of guilt that he'd made this new friend when his friends could be rotting in a cell and his siblings eagerly waiting for him to return with money and stories of his adventures.

There was never going to be a happy medium in John’s life and he'd come to accept that. He couldn't seem to live in the moment for more than a couple of hours before feeling guilty about everything else that might have ever gone wrong.

Alexander wagered a similar war in his head to John. He still didn't know whether he wanted to go back to living in that tower. Part of him screamed, no don't do it! But what would happen if he didn't? Thomas would be devastated, wouldn't he? Thomas was mean sometimes but he always meant well… right?


	9. The floating lights

James sighed a little and collapsed into a huge arm chair by the fire. The flames crackled and burned, keeping everything toasty and warm- at least James had the warmth on his side. He was rather nervous about a speech he was supposed to make in just a few short hours after sun down. He huffed gently, resting his cheek into his palm as he watched the flames dance and flicker Around each other.

"My love..." Anna shut the two grand double doors behind her. She walked over to the chair and stretched over it, wrapping her arms round, under James'chin. She kissed the top of his head softly. "What's wrong...?" James shifted a little and Anna retracted her arms, walking roy to face him. She knelt down on her knees and leaned over the arm of the chair, exhaling softly. "Darling, talk to me..."

"They're going to hate me..." James mumbled, barely glancing at Anna. "I've already failed as a king, Anna. They'll wish I'd just never returned..." he mumbled.

"Oh-" Anna stood up, crossing her arms. "Do not get cold feet on me now, James Hamilton" she practically scowled. "You are the one who brought me here. Do not forget that. I traveled all this way for you, pregnant, and I certainly didn't do it for you to chicken out right at the last minute-" Anna leant dow, adjusting James' crown on his head and cupping his cheeks softly as she lifted his face. "Wait, you're pregnant?" James asked. Anna pursed her lips together and froze.  
"I, er-" was the only response James was able to get out of Anna as her cheeks turned red. He pulled her dow into the chair with him and hugged her tightly. "That's amazing Anna!" Anna's features soon softened and melted into a smile, hugging James back even tighter. "Yes, yes it is"

Alexander kicked his legs in the air a little as he was reading. John had slithered down the bed a few hours back and fallen asleep next to Alexander. Alex grinned a little as he memorised the page number then closed his book and set it aside. He looked down at John fondly, soon sitting up and stretch. The door opened and soon, in came Lafayette. He sat down on the opposite bed and sighed. "Have the two of you done anything?"  
"Yes, actually" Alexander smiled. "We wondered through the city and went to a book shop, then these three girls- the Schuyler's, I think- braided my hair. Then we came back here."  
"I see" Lafayette nodded, pointing to John. "Is he okay...?" he asked, his concern for John surprising even himself. No, who was he kidding? He didn't really hate him that much, he was alright, thievery aside. "Oh? Yeah, he's fine" Alexander confirmed. "Just tired or something. I was reading aloud so that probably put him to sleep..."  
"You were reading to him?" Lafayette raised a brow.  
"What? No! Not like that!" Alexander shook his head. "I was just reading out loud, I wasn't reading to him..."  
"Okay" Lafayette shrugged, he didn't really care what they were doing- as long as they weren't having sex in his spare bed, he didn't particularly care.

Alexander leaned down, gently shaking John's shoulder. "Hey, wake up..." he mumbled, continuing to shake gently. "Come on sleepy..." he cooed close to John's ear. Lafayette sat up properly, watching Alexander. He spoke up after a moment, "Try kissing him?" he suggested. Alexander's cheeks turned red and he furrowed his brows. "Why would I do that?" Alex asked, crossing his arms.  
"I can think of a few reasons" Lafayette mused, a sly grin spreading across his face. "One reason though– true love's kiss breaks the sleeping spell" Alexander seemed to roll his eyes a little. The thing is, Lafayette seemed to pick up on something pretty quickly. He was sure John had a thing for Alexander and it was just as likely vice versa.

To Lafayette's surprise, Alexander leant down, kissing John's cheek. It wasn't exactly what Lafayette had meant, but a kiss was a kiss. "See, nothing" Alexander declared, partly trying to convince himself more than anyone– John was part of the reason he didn't want to go back to that tower after all. "What's nothing...?" John croaked, rubbing his eye as he sat up. If Alexander's cheeks had ever finished cooling down from before, you'd have never realised– his cheeks were once again a burning red. He looked away, biting his lip. Lafayette just shrugged, changing the subject. "You misheard. Anyway, it's already getting dark– How two will come and hear the king's speech? Or... Are you going to listen from the window?"  
"We'll come!" Alexander decided for the both of them. Anything to completely shatter the subject of him kissing John.

The three of them made their way out and towards the palace. That said, having John there meant hiding at the back of the crowd of people. They'd have to keep their guard up, too. Alexander could barely see anything– but he could see the flicker of lights lined up. He looked up to see even more lights circling a huge balcony. Everybody was chattering away, discussing the designs on the lanterns this year– the lost prince– the king that had returned.

Lafayette was off duty, thankfully. Washington had given him the day off because of the whole separating from the group trying to find John Laurens thing. He said he didn't mind being on duty but Washington insisted he didn't, so he was grateful. He was honestly kind of glad, he'd kind of liked John and Alexander's company. Speaking of Alex, when Lafayette met with the king, he decided he sort of resembled Alexander, but he didn't want to say anything unless he was one hundred percent sure.

John couldn't help but keep stealing glances of Alexander, he was just very beautiful and John couldn't help it. Part of him didn't want any of this to end. He wandered what was actually going to happen after seeing the lights together– would he just take Alexander back like originally planned, is that what Alexander still wanted– is that what he wanted?

Everyone hushed as the double doors up on the balcony opened. Out walked James in a dark blue attire and Anna in a matching blue satin dress, a shawl around her arms. Technically she wasn't queen yet. There marriage wasn't official in the eyes of the kingdom, not yet– so she wasn't permitted a tiara. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of wearing something that expensive anyway, she considered herself to be rather clumsy.

James addressed the entire kingdom as kind and patient. He apologized that he was gone for so long. He was deeply regretful that he had not heard of Rachel's passing sooner and returned. He then went on to introduce Anna. He finished with the idea that there was still hope of finding his younger brother– he'd make it happen one way or another. For a split second, he noticed a certain red head in the crowd but he decided his mind was playing tricks on him, there was no way. Besides, he wouldn't even know what his little brother would look like now.

Soon James and Anna lit a candle for the biggest lantern. They both gently lifted it, giving it a boost into the air. The rest of the kingdom had followed suit. Alexander, John and Lafayette had found somewhere a little quieter. They walked to a lake, the forrest all away across the other side. The ice had melted away a big but Alexander imagined that the water was still rather cold. He was thankful that they still had their cloaks from Hercules Mulligan. Lafayette had actually left them there to get something. There was a dock with a single boat tied to it. John smiled a little, gesturing to the boat. "You're not afraid of water are you?"  
"No, why?" Alexander asked.  
"Lafayette's idea..." John shrugged as they walked over. John began to untie the rope as Lafayette returned, holding three lanterns. 

"I got you something" Lafayette spoke, handing a lantern to each of them. Alexander smiled thankfully and John gave him a nod. Alexander looked back at the boat in wonder as John stood with one leg in, steadying the boat. "Is there room for all three of us...? the boat looks kind of uhm.." Alexander switched between the boat- John- Lafayette-, hesitantly. Lafayette shook his head. "No?" He asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's your birthday, right? John will go out on the boat with you as he is your guide, I'm fine here, where I am." Alexander nodded softly and turned to John, he had his hand out for him. Alexander took his hand and carefully stepped into the boat with a small wobble. John grabbed his waist to steady him and they both lowered down onto the seats- wooden blanks- across the boat, opposite each other. John grabbed the ores and started to row out into the centre of the lake. Lafayette smiled, situating himself on the dock, chin in his palm. His other hand under his lantern, gently boosting up into the sky with a light flick.

John and Alexander made it out into the centre of the lake. By now, the sky was completely lit up golden, everyone had sent up a lantern, now all that was left was Alexander and John. the boat swayed to a stop as John stopped rowing. "Is this a good spot?" John asked. Alexander didn't respond straight away, he was too busy smiling like an idiot, not at the lanterns but at John. his blue eyes glistened in the light and Alexander was loving it, his features were just so alluring, In the light of course, Alexander told himself. "Thank you so much" Alexander said sweetly. He took John's hands gently and smiled. "I mean it"

John's heart did flips for a hot second, but it was quickly overridden with guilt for his friends. "Yeah, uh no problem..." John said in such a nonchalant way, you'd have never guessed he was dying inside. The two fell into silence again, but neither had a problem with that. Alexander's eyes drifted back into the sky to the floating lights, then he remembered something. He took the satchel off that he'd been carrying since Thomas had given it to him from under his cloak and sighed. “Is now a good time to return this? I've been reluctant, I guess. I was worried what would happen if I gave it to you early and if you'd just leave me here…” Alexander rambled a little and shook his head, lowering the bag down. “I’m still going to fullfil the dead red–”  
“Alex.” Alexander corrected with a pout.  
“I’ll still take you home,” John continued. “or wherever you want to go…”  
“Can I stay with you?” Alexander asked after a moment's thought.  
“That might be dangerous…” John hummed but he was amused by the idea. He'd quite like to travel with Alex… but what about his other friends?

As if on cue, there they were. Holding up a lantern on the other side of the lake. John squinted, he could only just make out Martha and Francis. “I uh…” a lump caught up in his throat. “I need to take care of something… Do you mind? And then we'll row right back over to the other side and join Lafayette” John promised. He rowed across and tied the rope loosely. “I’ll be right back” he stated, grabbing the satchel. “Okay” Alexander said after a moment, though he wasn't sure whether he believed what John said– he wanted to trust him though.

Two minutes past… and then five… ten… and then a bit of a final push to fifteen. What was going on? Alexander climbed out the boat and studied his surroundings. It was dark and somewhat caked with fog. Then he noticed a lantern and a figure heading towards him. He smiled with relief and bounced on his toes. “I was worried that you weren't coming back for a moment!” he exclaimed. But as the dark figure became closer, he realised it wasn't John– it was a girly. “He’s not…” she said, pointing her head back. There appeared to be John on another boat, sailing back. The girl was almost grinning. “He left you behind. He left us behind once too”  
“No…” Alexander mumbled, stumbling back.  
“We made a deal” she stated. He got to keep the crown and we got you…” she pulled out a dagger and advanced. Alexander took a step back with every step this girl took forward. “Did he even. Tell you about us? Or were you far too busy making out and having fun?”

“Martha?” Alexander asked. The girl froze up. “You’re Martha, aren't you?” Alex asked. “He said you were like family to him” Martha looked hesitant. She didn't know what to do. “I was the outcast” Alexander stated. “He wouldn't have lied to me if I wasn't-”  
“That’s not true!” Martha quickly cupped her hands over her mouth. “I uh…” she bit her lip.

“Alexander!” they heard a shout. It was Thomas. Alexander, not entirely sure what he was feeling right now, ran to him and Martha disappeared.

Thomas wrapped his arms around Alexander tightly and kissed the top of his head. “He abandoned me…” Alexander whimpered into Thomas’ chest. “I know…” Thomas sighed. “I knew this would happen. Come on, let's go home…”  
“Okay…”


	10. …And they almost lived happily ever after

Alexander returned to his tower with Thomas. He felt practically empty. He'd dropped his guard and enjoyed John’s company far too much– only to be tricked and abandoned for a stupid lump of metal. He sat with his face buried into a pillow as Thomas gently picked flowers from his hair. “You really should have listened to me, you know?” Thomas said, dropping each flower into his basket. Alexander said nothing. “I really tried to warn you, dear”

Thomas sighed, plucking the final flower and dropping it into his basket. He stood up and walked to the door to the bedroom. He tapped his fingers against the door frame and turned on his heel. “There…” he said, “It never happened. Now, I'll make hazelnut soup– your favourite” His words were supposed to sound reassuring but that wasn't exactly Thomas’ specialty. He was actually quite mad at Alexander and it just so happened that he didn't need him anymore. He'd come across that village when following him. Another flower had survived and had been stolen… He walked to the big saucepan on the stove. He took the spoon and checked the flavoring– not that he'd be the one to eat it once complete. He then grabbed a vial from his pocket and poured the crystal clear liquid out of it, into the soup.

Alexander stared up at the ceiling in his room, sighing heavily. He still didn't feel like talking much. He also didn't want to be here, why didn't he just go back and find Lafayette– he wouldn't have minded, right?

It had actually taken Lafayette about half an hour to realise both his knew friends were gone. Then, he heard the shouts of the other guards– excited because they'd caught him, albeit a bit odd that he was tied to the helm. But that wasn't what was important.

Later, when John came around, Lafayette was the first to greet him in his cell, looking unimpressed. John’s vision was blurry for a moment– he was seeing two angry eyed Lafayette’s, their arms crossed. “What happened…?” John hissed, trying to recollect what had happened as he held his head in place.  
“You tell me!” Lafayette scoffed, throwing his arms out. “What happened to Alex?”  
“Alex…?” John mumbled, repeating the name a few times– it wasn't that he couldn't remember who Alex was, it was apparently just his method of remembering. “I… I don't know… there were the lights and then I saw my friends so we rowed over And… Oh lord”  
“What?” Lafayette’s eyes softened for a second and turned to worry. He held tightly onto the bars of the cell. “What happened?”  
“There’s this tower in the forrest– it's where I found Alexander and well, it's the only place I can think of that he'd be by now– my friends did this…”  
“Great friends” Lafayette scoffed. John glared up at him. “They were upset and jealous”

Lafayette crossed his arms and leaned against the wall with a sigh. “Well… I uh, I'm sorry…” he felt a lump in his throat. “I might see what I can do, but they plan on hanging you in seven hours…”  
“O-oh…” John stuttered out. “Right…”  
“But again, I'll see what I can do…” Lafayette tried to reassure him, but he wasn't exactly reassuring himself.

A couple of hours past and John could see daylight through the little barred window at the top of the wall. He decided that if he really wanted to, it was just about big enough to fit through. Height was on his side and the bars looked as though someone had chiseled through them before– or tries to. He pulled at them and to his luck, the whole frame came off. Why hadn't he tried sooner?

Guards had heard the sound and were already in to inspect what had happened. John was just climbing through when two guards grabbed his legs but he kicked them and used them as a boost. He ran as fast as he could– which was quite fast. Outrunning those guards were quite easy.

He somehow made it to that tower pretty quickly and it wasn't that far– why had it taken them so long to travel in the first place. John placed his hand on the tower and panted heavily. He'd run so fast it made him feel sick. What the hell was he doing? Why was he so desperate to see Alexander and make sure he was okay– what if he wasn't even here.

After catching his breath, John started his climb up the tower. The clouds were quite grey today, his hands cold and hurt gripping in-between stones of the tower. When he reached the top, he heard a somewhat sinister humming. 

“See Alexander, what did I tell you? Your little friend did come looking for you.” a voice came from somewhere in the shadows. “What…?” John muttered, squinting his eyes. “Alexander?” he called out. There was a shuffling sound and a muffled murmur. “Quit it, it's too late anyway!” the voice snapped. “That soup will be taking effect shortly anyway…” he said calmly. 

“What’s going on-” John narrowed his eyes. “Where’s–” Thomas walked out from the shadows, revealing himself– not that John knew who Thomas really was. “What have you done to Alex…?”

Thomas tugged on a chain, revealing Alexander out. His hair had been snipped off, it now just about sat at his shoulders– it had faded a little, but it was still definitely ginger. John wondered whether the loss of hair was a big relief of weight. He had a really bad black eye and had some sort of cloth tied around his mouth. John could see pain in Alex’s eyes and it honestly hurt a lot. “Punishment, of course” Thomas said like it was obvious. “We’re going far away. You being here has just made things much easier, John Laurens”

“What did you put in the soup…?” John asked after a moment's thought. Thomas just laughed, amused by the thief’s inquiry. “Don’t worry yourself with that, you don't be alive long enough to find out.”  
“What…?” John stepped forward. “Tell m–” his sentence was cut short, Thomas had drawn a knife and lunged it into him. He pulled the knife out as quickly as it had penetrated into him.

John stumbled back, only a few steps from the window. Three… two… one…  
Alexander gasped, and tried to reach forwards as John fell out. John had come all the way here for Alexander and now because of that, he was surely dead. Tears streamed from his eyes and he glared up at Thomas since it was all he could really do. In return, Thomas just gave him a sickly smile. “Don’t worry, with time, you'll forget” it was a cruel joke.

John fell. He'd hoped he'd black out quickly, but no such luck, though he definitely felt drained and he couldn't think straight. He handed in a bush of thorns. By some miracle, he was still breathing. Even when Lafayette found him, there was still some life within him. Somehow.

“Oh my God…” Lafayette exclaimed, dragging John out of the bushes. “What the hell happened?” there was no response from John, but he was definitely still alive, for now.

It was quite challenging, but Lafayette managed to carry John back to the kingdom on the back of his horse. Whether it was really his best decision, he didn't know yet. He'd only just convinced them to at least delay John’s death, they were still debating on the possibility of a fair trial. Lafayette had been on his way down to tell John about the delay of his death when he'd found him missing. Would they even still honour that decision after his escape– was there any point?”

Upon returning, Lafayette managed to arrange a doctor to take a look at John. The somewhat good news was, John wasn't going to die from his injuries. When he finally woke up and had the strength to do anything, John told Lafayette about what had happened; the state he'd seen Alex in, Thomas taking him away, the fact that he was stabbed and fell out the window. What he hadn't told Lafayette was the problems he was having with his sight…

Thomas had retrieved his flower from that ghost town of a village, cut off most of Alexander’s hair to stop the magic and now all that was left was to leave Alexander somewhere. He debated on killing him, but the idea of leaving him elsewhere with no memory of what had happened these past few days– of most of his life, amused him. 

Thomas took Alexander over to a neighboring kingdom and left him, abandoned in the snow. He wondered whether someone would even take pity on a boy left in the cold with amnesia– not that it was his problem. He no longer cared or wanted anything to do with Alex. He had his flower and as far as he knew, Alexander was no longer magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, this is the end of part one, I guess. It is still a rapunzel au, but kudos if you can guess what the second part of the story is loosely based on.
> 
> I don't know how long the second part will be, I'm still figuring things out to be honest. This chapter would have been longer, but I decided what was going to happen would take place in the next chapter, whenever I get round to writing it.


End file.
